They deprecated GNOME 2.
If people like Unity or GNOME 3, it's nice to have it but it's not an improvement over GNOME 2. It's something different. I don't expect my grand mother to learn something new so she is stuck with Ubuntu 9.10. When I installed Ubuntu for her some years ago, it was expected that the system was easy to use and would improve over time. Canonical has failed to support that experience.. Instead they have moved to Tablets. They have damaged the confidence people would put in them. They should put some resources on MATE to restore it.

I don't think Unity is really a touch tablet interface as it stands it's more keyboard driven, HUD for instance is keyboard friendly and touch unfriendly as is switching virtual Desktops etc as a result it needs a little effort to use Unity to its full potential

As for your grandmother load five applications on the launcher and she will find it easy to use even if she doesn't use the interface to its full potential.

"As for your grandmother load five applications on the launcher and she will find it easy to use even if she doesn't use the interface to its full potential."

Clearly which is best it's a matter of taste and workflows. What's frustrating though is that these changes were pushed upon all existing users, for some of whom the new OS brought dubious benefits, regressive features, and had no easy way to revert to previous configurations.

Choice has traditionally been the forte for linux distros above all other operating systems. I think it's a shame to see this kind of partial totalitarian shift among the leading distributors of open source software. Lucky it is still open source, and even though Mint only has a fraction of the resources Ubuntu has, they have been phenomenal in their commitment to standing behind the choices of users.